Reports of frauds, deceptions and scams keep appearing, weekly even daily, on
major news channels and newspapers. Some of these frauds seem just too big and remote to be of immediate, direct relevance to our daily lives. But, we will eventually pay for the consequences and damages, in taxes, costs of goods and services, regulations, copy-cats etc.

I hope we can collect, in one thread, frauds and scams, reported or heard. We must become more aware and more educated to guard against frauds and scams
which impact upon the health, well being, and wealth of ourselves and our families.

Government 'failing' over fraud :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6091702.stm

perhaps some banks will start taking things more seriously now:
(Am not surprised that Halifax is meantioned in the BBC article):-

"Several leading banks may be facing unlimited fines over allegations that they dumped confidential customer account details in bin bags on streets."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6093600.stm

Legally neither frauds nor scams but ...

MP's court bid for answers fails

"The courts cannot force ministers to give proper answers to questions from MPs, a High Court judge has ruled.

The court heard Lib Dem MP John Hemming was concerned they could "duck, weave and not answer" queries, while the government did little to stop it.

Listing 12 ministerial responses he considered to be poor, he said a court needed to enforce proper answers.

But the judge refused his request for a judicial review, saying the ministerial code had to be enforced by Parliament.

'Flawed and evasive'

MPs can ask questions of ministers about policies, with replies usually received two weeks later, to allow detailed replies to be prepared.

Mr Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley, highlighted 12 of his queries on subjects ranging from overspending on NHS drugs, the financial position of millennium projects, gas imports, climate change and increases in council tax.

He said he received flawed, partial, evasive and sometimes misleading responses and argued the prime minister had failed to stop this.

Mr Hemming said that when he had complained about it in the Commons, the Speaker of the House of the Commons had said it was not a matter for him.

..."

Cash adviser jailed for 2m fraud

"A financial adviser who conned clients out of 2.3m to feed an online gambling habit has been jailed for nine years.

Philip Smith, 49, formerly of Gaddum Road in Bowdon, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to offences including theft, forgery and money laundering.

The court heard how Smith targeted the elderly and vulnerable, and used people's credit cards for betting.

Judge Peter Lakin, sentencing, said he was a "callous, manipulative and thoroughly dishonest man".

Smith conned at least 50 victims - many of them elderly - and gambled away at least 2m on the internet. One woman in her 80s lost more than 200,000.

Passing sentence at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday, Judge Lakin told Smith his clients had put their trust in him as a financial adviser.

"You breached that trust placed in you in a cold and calculated way," he said.

"You deliberately targeted elderly and vulnerable people. Being the consummate fraudster you are, you drew them into a web of deceit and conned them out of a substantial amount of money.

"This was dishonesty on a truly breathtaking scale."

Smith had admitted 49 counts of theft, five of money laundering, two of false accounting and three forgeries at a hearing in September.

The court heard that he sent the money to offshore bank accounts and lived a lavish lifestyle on the proceeds of his crimes.

Some of those he conned had known him for more than 20 years, including his own brother.

Many stayed with him in his holiday homes in North Wales or the Costa del Sol - paid for with the money he stole from them.

Smith pleaded guilty to stealing almost 1.8m over a 15-year period, though police believe he took at least another 500,000 from his clients.

He used at least 70 credit cards belonging to his clients to make online bets worth 2 million and siphoned off at least 500,000 of this into his own account.

The rest was lost or used to refund the cards of some victims.

Smith's sentencing followed a long and complex investigation by Greater Manchester Police.

The force believes it was one of the biggest cases of theft by an individual it has ever investigated.

Det Con John Ashington, who worked on the investigation for 18 months, said: "Philip Smith was a man driven by greed, selfishness and ultimately desperation.

"He has left not only financial chaos and devastation in his wake, but also dozens of decent and hard-working people feeling shocked, shattered, betrayed and angry.

"I have seen at first hand the misery and distress that Smith has caused and I sincerely hope I do not have to deal with another case like this ever again."

Mr Ashington said he hoped the case would serve to remind people to check the credentials of financial advisors with the Financial Services Authority (FSA)."

Is Charles Bronson dead yet? I think he is?

But there is still a need.....

Yes he is Doc, a quick check- www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/bnames-nf/Bronson+Charles

Gizza job yooth!

Worker paid 91,000 pounds to change lights
Wednesday November 1, 12:34 PM

LONDON (Reuters) - How much does it cost to change a light bulb? -- "A lot" is the answer if you are a taxpayer in Birmingham. Over 90,000 pounds in fact.

A furious row has erupted over the news that a council street and traffic lights engineer received 91,000 pounds for 2005/2006 including overtime bonuses -- even though he was off sick.

The average pay in Britain is about 23,000 pounds a year.

Birmingham City Council's Alan Rudge said he intended to stamp out the practice
of workers getting bloated pay packets.

"This is a throwback to employment practice which is outdated and we cannot just stand still," he added in a statement.

Christine Melsom of the Is It Fair? campaign group, which wants to scrap the current council tax system, said she feared the problem might be endemic among local authorities.

"I really think this is probably just the tip of the iceberg," she told BBC radio. "How many more are there in other councils across the country?"

Earlier this month, Birmingham council came under fire when news leaked that some road workers -- whose job was to paint white lines on the city's streets -- earned 1,000 pounds a week.

An example of job squatter for good pay and perks, no stress and no work. Once worked with someone whom I think should be paying the company instead for using company facilities for private gains, havign a cosy life, using union for protection, burdening colleagues for doing and correcting his work ... Absolutely shameless and I think he is proud of it :-(((

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel
Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel
and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate
number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating
from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded
message you will already have been billed 15 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal
Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service
regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk

_________________

I fully expected that one to be a hoax but it's actually true! http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/pds.asp

Taking control of your digital ID

"The government has estimated that ID fraud cost the UK 1.7bn last year and according to CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, identity theft has risen more than six-fold from 20,000 cases in 1999 to 137,000 in 2005."

"In 1996 there were no electronic public records in the UK. Today there are nearly 700 million."

"Garlik estimates that the average Briton's personal details can be found in over 1,000 places on the web."

""By protecting themselves against the growing threat, users are also protecting others,"

From front page of Indy
Pollock's 'No. 5, 1948' commands record price for a painting
One of the largest paintings troubled artist Jackson Pollock completed - the unromantically entitled No. 5, 1948 - has been sold for no less a sum than 73.35m

It's a joke innit? If I knew how to post a jpeg here I could show you.

Looks like a load of elastic bands to me. They are wondering if he is the world's greatest painter.

anybody know anything about " GLOBAL SECURITES" they keep cold calling me and really p*ssing me off!

"To an untrained eye it looks like someone tied paintfilled brushes to the tails of a couple of cats and then let them fight it out on a 4ft x 8ft canvas.

However, this mass of brown and blue daubs criss-crossed with red and yellow swirls is a right load of old Pollocks and worth 73 .5 million."

I might have a go myself. It sounds like a doddle.

Doc. Sounds like a doddle and looks like a doodle? :-)

:-)

And if I tied my paint brush to my willy, would it be a cock-a doodle?

OK, OK. I'll stop now.

You can tell whether a man is honest or not because of the presence (or absence)of a nice smile.

Anyone on here doing any investing in the products of the following guys?

http://www.fasttrackuk.com/

Just for you Doc - :-)

Ref Fasttrack. There's an article in IC this morning about a guy losing 10K within 2 weeks with Blue Index (advisory) Fees of 5150. Ouch!